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9 responses to “Pain in the Aspen (PIA)”

Hi All,
The first PIA is in the books and was a pretty good time for those who showed up. With a 6:30 A.M. start, it seemed so early, but Mother Nature showed her gracious side and greeted us with mild temps, an incredible sunrise and a full moon to boot!

So with eight brave souls and a neutral roll out, we headed out. Once we hit Smuggler Mountain Road things took shape pretty quickly. Andrew Carney, Chad Kittles and Single Speeder Mark Zitelli made an early break and that would be the last time the rest of us would see them.

After 55 miles Andrew Carney pulled into Justice Snow’s with a smoking time of 6hr 45min. Nipping on his heels was Mark Zitelli 3 minutes back at 6hr 48min. Great job! This wasn’t an easy course, and with almost 10k’ of climbing it tested your MTB skills in every way.

On the women’s side Bec Bale and Sarah Uhl put in a phenomenal day. Sarah Uhl came in at 8hr 55min and Bec Bale came in at 9hr 20min. Bec and Sarah made some of the most difficult parts of this course look easy. Trust me, I followed them down Sunnyside Trail, and they hauled A$$!

Thank you to everyone who came out and put in a great day on the bike. Next year looks to be even better and with some great ideas from all who raced, we hope you can make it. Hint: Flaming Sugar Cubes will be in order!

A big THANK YOU to Marcos for opening up Justice Snow’s at 5:30 A.M. with coffee for everyone. It feels good to have a place to relax before a grueling day on the bike. The beer and food at the After Party – – Thank You, Marcos! We couldn’t have done it without you! Thanks,Buddy!

The results from today’s event are below. If something doesn’t read right, please send me an e-mail, so it can be fixed. Thank you, again, to all who kicked this thing in the A$$ today! It was a great 1st Inaugural Ride!

Well,the second annual PIA was frustrating and interesting to say the least.Mother Nature the night prior to race start was not looking good,but by race time the weather was as good as it gets.We had two start times with two groups of riders.The early start(6:30A.M.)was off and running with the front range duo of Jonathan Cuppet and Peter Gotseff.They both put in a great ride and times(see below).The 8:A.M. start was a last minute throw together of locals and friends who couldn’t do the 50 mile ride,but opted for the 26 mile ride,which consisted of 5100ft of climbing.Hats off to all who came out and rode some awesome trails.
Something to ponder Colorado Endurance Series riders.The folks who host these rides take a lot of time to set these rides up.When you sign up and then know show it really can have an impact on ride preperation and after ride hospitality.Take the time and let the HOST of the ride know if you will be riding or not riding,its that simple!

The Brave Two!(50 miles)

1ST-Jonathan Cuppet-7hr 25min-Awesome Job!
2ND-Peter Gotseff-7hr 55min-Awesome Job as well!
(Thanks for showing up on time and putting in a great effort.It was great to meet you guys,and hope to see you next year)

Heck Ya!!!!
The 3rd annual PIA was pretty Awesome!The trails are in great shape,and the PIA course didn’t disappoint.Thank You to all the riders out there who cranked this ride out.I know there were a few hiccups out there with the course,and thanks for finding your way around those diversions.I apologize for any gps issues as I wasn’t able to get up to Aspen and pre-ride the course to update any issues,but guess what!I took notes along the way,and will be making some cool changes for next year.

Chad(I kicked everyones Ass)Kittles had a great day out there.He set a new course record of 6hr 44min.Nice work Chad and congrats on finding your way:-)

Pete Gotseff- Nice work! 7hr 12min good for 2nd place!Heck of an improvement from last year!Awesome job!Love to see you get that 7hr mark!

Jonathan Cuppett-7hr 17min for 3rd place!Solid ride,and improving from last year’s time!Great work!Love to see you get that 7hr mark also!

Ryan Sawyer-8hr 29min for 4th place!Nice work Ryan.Hope you had fun out their.Great time!Glad you busted this ride out and got it done.Awesome job!

James Osborne-9hr 17min for 5th place.I was pretty much with James the whole way,and he really showed a lot of heart in getting this ride done.Nice work James!Awesome to ride with you out there.

Thomas Ray-9hr 17min.Loved every minute of it!

Scott Palmore-Thanks Scott for coming on out.I didn’t get a finish time for you or miles completed.Glad you were there and cranking out some single track.

A big thank you to Ryan Sterling and the staff at the J-Bar for opening the doors at 5:30A.M. for coffee and a cool discount on food after the ride,Hats off my man!.You have no Idea how much it was appreciated.I think the PIA has found a home:-)

Thanks again everyone for coming out and riding.Hopefully you can all make it next year.Looking forward to it.
Have a great rest of the summer!

What an awesome day! Huge thanks to TRay for keeping spirits up and navigation on track. No question I’ll be back next year, hopefully bringing a few more lowlanders with me. Can’t say enough good things about the whole experience.

Thanks again for hosting this race with this amazing course! There was some sog-factor and I had some newbie GPS growing-pains, but at the point were I turned back to head back to town (so Chad and I could head home on time), I was back on course and loving it. I forgot how beautiful the Aspen Valley was. Damn! See you next year for sure, and hope the CTR is going well for you.